Physiological Response Mutant 1 (M1) Indigofera zollingeriana at Various Gamma Irradiations

¹ Department of Nutrition and Animal Feed, Faculty of Animal Science, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
² Student of Faculty of Animal Science, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: marhamahnadir@unhas.ac.id

Abstract

Indigofera zollingeriana is known as a high quality forage and supplement for livestock due to its high nutritional content. It is very adaptive to a variety of climatic situations, including acidic and highly saline soils, and it can withstand protracted drought. Indigofera plant as a forage for animal feed is able to grow and thrive under environmental stress. It is anticipated that genetic mutation brought on by gamma irradiation will stimulate and activate genetic potential with modifications in the makeup of amino acids, increasing the body's reaction to abiotic stress. The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of gamma irradiation dose on the physiological response of Indigofera which includes growth, leaf area, leaf area index, stomatal openings and chlorophyll levels. The study used a completely randomized design (CRD) with 5 treatments and 3 replications for leaf area and stomata while chlorophyll levels used 6 replications. The treatments of gamma irradiation dose were respectively 0 Gy, 50 Gy, 100 Gy, 150 Gy and 200 Gy. After sampling, the data was processed using ANOVA analysis of variance and differences between treatments were tested with the Least Significant Difference (LSD) using SPSS 16.0 software. The results showed that the dose of gamma irradiation affected the number of stomata and chlorophyll content (P < 0.05), but had no significant effect on leaf area (P > 0.05). The results of the LSD test showed that treatment P1 had the highest stomata number of 74.33.